


2,867 miles between my heart and yours

by six6string



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Road Trip, and in-n-out, background Nick/Seiji, lots of pining, prepare yourselves for in depth descriptions of convenience stores
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26070880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/six6string/pseuds/six6string
Summary: Harvard and Aiden take a road trip, and secrets are brought to the surface amidst drive-thrus, shitty motels, and extreme sleep deprivation.
Relationships: Aiden Kane/Harvard Lee, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 34





	1. The Journey Begins Without Much Fanfare

Aiden is leaning against the side of the truck in his most nonchalant manner, scrolling through Instagram on his phone. The early morning cloud cover has finally burned off, and the sun is hitting him in just the way to make his hair look like liquid gold. His posture is relaxed, long limbs stretched out in an almost cat-like manner. He looks good, and he knows it. 

“Aiden? Can you help me with some of these boxes?” A voice calls from the other side of the truck.

“Oh, come on, Harvard, you’re big and strong. You don’t need my help.” Aiden replies, snapping a quick selfie to see if the light really accented his features the way he thought it did. 

“Aiden, please…”

“Uh, fine.” Aiden sticks his phone back into the back pocket of his jeans and walks around the truck, where he is greeted by the sight of a sweating Harvard surrounded by large cardboard moving boxes. 

“Oh, thanks,” Harvard says, picking up another box, the strain evident in his voice. “You can take some of the smaller ones.”

“What, you think I’m not strong enough to carry the big ones?” Aiden crosses his arms and arranges his face into a pout. Harvard just glances at him and sighs. 

“Fine, you can take some of the big boxes too, okay? But let’s hurry, I want to get on the road soon.”

Aiden uncrosses his arms and goes to pick up one of the larger boxes. He staggers a bit under the weight, but is somehow able to maneuver over to the back of the truck and get the box inside. Then he straightens up and gives the box a smug smile. 

The two take the next fifteen minutes to load the rest of the boxes into the back of the moving truck, albeit with much cursing. On Aiden’s part at least. The worst thing he ever heard Havard say throughout the whole ordeal was, “Dangnabbit!” Harvard only swears when he’s really mad at something.

Finally, all the boxes are neatly(ish) stacked in the back of the truck, and Harvard closes up the ramp and locks up the back of the truck before turning to Aiden. A ring of keys dangles from his index finger and a mischievous smile stretches across his face. 

“So, who’s driving first?” 

“Uh, about that.” Aiden grins sheepishly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “I, uh, I sort of got my license suspended last week?”

Harvard’s smile disappears. “For what?”

“DUI.”

Harvard massages his temple with one hand, like he has a headache coming on. “DUI, Aiden? Seriously?”

“In my defense, it was a great party, I was a fabulous dancer, and people kept handing me drinks! I was just being polite.” He doesn’t mention why he was at the party, what he was running away from.

Harvard gives him a skeptical glance. 

Aiden shrugs.

Harvard sighs. “Fine. I guess I’m driving, then. Let’s go.”

The pair climb into the cab of the truck, which smells like moldy coffee and stale sweat. Aiden wrinkles his nose, but Harvard just rolls his eyes. 

“And we’re off!” Harvard says as they pull out of the driveway, causing Aiden to be the eye-roller this time. His best friend can be such a goof sometimes. 

There’s silence in the cab for the first few miles, until they merge onto the I-84. The traffic is light, and they fly down the freeway without much hindrance. Then, the comfortable silence is interrupted by a soft ‘ding’ from Aiden’s phone. He pulls it out and makes a face. 

“Who is it?” Harvard asks. 

“Tanner.”

“What does he want?”

“Oh, just to inform me that Nicholas and Seiji are ‘on the outs’ again, and apparently it’s Nicholas’s fault this time.”

“What did Nick do?”

“Who knows. Not my problem. It’s vacation, and I’m not going to be bothered by a bunch of pining frosh.” He puts his hands behind his head, leans back, and closes his eyes. 

“Oh, come on, you know you like them,” Harvard cajoles.

Aiden cracks an eye open to see Harvard with a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Yeah, no. Seiji is just such a perfectionist, and Nicholas is… honestly, I don’t even know why he’s on the team. He’s a mess.”

“You’re just mad that you can’t play your mind games with Nicholas, and that Seiji is better than you.”

“Hmph.”

“Oh, come on. You know I’m right.”

Harvard was right, that was the problem. Annoyed, Aiden opens his phone again to see a long string of Instagram notifications. That made him smile a little. Lots of likes on his latest post, and a few DMs that he ignores.

They ride in comfortable silence for a while longer, only the sounds of the freeway around them. Eventually, though, Harvard pops the question.

“Hey, could we listen to some music?”

“Sure, hand me the aux cord.” Harvard passes it over and Aiden plugs his phone in before pulling up Spotify. “What do you want to listen to?”

“Eh, you can choose. As long as it’s not Ariana Grande.”

“Oh come on! What’s wrong with Ariana Grande?”

“I dunno, I just don’t like her music very much? There’s not enough punch to it. It’s all… floaty.”

“Floaty?”

“You know what I mean.”

Aiden… sort of understood what Harvard meant. It also wasn’t the first time they’ve had this conversation. And he also knew exactly what Harvard wanted to listen to, even if Harvard hadn’t said it specifically. He grins as he pulls up a playlist helpfully titled “harvard’s favs”.

_ I’ve had a little bit to much, much (Oh, oh, oh-oh) _

Aiden glances over at Harvard and sees that he’s mouthing the words along with the song. His eyes are fixed on the road ahead, but his fingers tap the steering wheel in time with the beat.

_ All of the people start to rush (Start to rush by) _

By the time the chorus rolls around, both boys are singing at the top of their lungs, trying to keep from laughing. Aiden can’t stop smiling, especially as the next song comes on.

_ This was never the way I planned, not my intention _

“Oh my god. This brings back so many memories.”

“Please don’t remind me,” Harvard says, laughing.

“The fifth grade talent show. You, me, and those ridiculous feather boas. Oh god, the look on our teacher’s face. She had no idea what to do.”

That night is one of Aiden’s favorite memories. The two of them up on stage, lip-synching to ‘I Kissed a Girl’, wearing feather boas and heels they stole from Aiden’s stepmom. Aiden even had on bright red lipstick, although Harvard refused to wear makeup. They were a complete disaster, but it didn’t matter. The lights, the attention, the steady presence of Harvard by his side… that’s what Aiden wanted. He still wants it. 

Song after song goes by, and Aiden sings himself hoarse. The miles disappear behind them, and as Aiden watches Harvard singing, he can’t help but wonder what he’s gotten himself into on this trip. Sure, it’s just driving across the country, but at the same time, it’s driving across the country, with Harvard. 

They’ve been on the road for about three and a half hours before Aiden’s stomach begins to rear its ugly head. 

“Hey, do you think we can grab some food soon? I’m starving.”

“Sure. We should probably fill up the tank as well,” Harvard says, eyeing the gas gage. “Could you pull up the map and search for gas stations?”

“Yeah, one moment.” Aiden opens Google Maps. “There should be a Sunoco off the next exit.”

“Thanks,” Harvard says, exiting the freeway.

They pull into the gas station a minute later and hop out. Harvard volunteers to fill up the truck, and tasks Aiden with grabbing them some sandwiches and chips. 

Aiden pushes open the door to the convenience store, immediately hearing the soft ‘bing-bong’ that accompanies it. There’s no one else in the cramped store besides the bored looking woman behind the cash register. He makes his way over to the refrigerator, stopping to grab a couple bags of Lays. Sour cream and onion for Harvard, and classic for himself. 

The fridge is full of classic convenience store sandwiches, with processed turkey and soggy wonderbread. Aiden makes a face as he grabs two chicken salad sandwiches, and two ham and cheese. Just for good measure, he also picks up a bottle of gatorade before heading to the checkout counter. 

As the woman working the cash register scans the items, he glances out the front window to see Harvard squeegeeing down the windows of the truck. 

“Is that your boyfriend?”

Aiden turns back to the woman and smiles. “No, just a friend.”

The woman hands him his purchases and says, “Oh, that’s too bad. You two would be cute together.”

Aiden laughs and bids her farewell before heading back out to the truck, something in his stomach twisting.

They get back in the cab and Aiden hands Harvard two of the sandwiches. Harvard makes a face and Aiden giggles. Within a few minutes, they’re back on the road, heading into the great unknown. 

\---

“How much longer?” Aiden asks, glancing up from his phone for what seems like the fiftieth time.

“Um, I think the motel I booked is in Youngstown, right outside of Cleveland. So, another hour, I think?”

Aiden groans.

“Oh come on,” Harvard says. “It’s not like you’re doing any of the driving.”

“I could, though. If you need a break.”

“And risk us getting pulled over and you not having a valid license? Yeah, no. I don’t want to deal with that fiasco.”

“I won’t get pulled over. I’ll be like, super careful and stuff.”

“Uh-huh.” Harvard sounds skeptical.

“I’ll have you know that I am an excellent driver. I’m practically a professional.

“No, you’re not. You failed your driving test three times.”

“It was only twice!”

“And you get more speeding tickets than the rest of the team combined.”

“Well, excuse me for being in a hurry!”

“And-” Harvard is cut off by a ding from his phone. He sighs, and says, “Aiden, could you grab that for me? It’s in the bag next to your seat.”

Aiden fishes around in the bag until he finds it, then punches in Harvard’s passcode to check the text. “It’s from Kally.”

“Could you read it to me?”

“‘I don’t know if Tanner told you this, but Nicholas and Seiji are fighting again. They’re both on campus over the break, and are refusing to share a room any longer. SOS.”

“Tell Kally that one of them can sleep in our room while we’re away. And that I’ll call him once we stop so he can give me the rest of the details.”

“You’re going to let the frosh sleep in our room?”

“Stop calling them that. Did you send the message?”

“Yeah, he’s replying right now.” Another ding from Harvard’s phone, and Aiden reads out. “‘Harvard, you’re a lifesaver.’ Red heart emoji, relieved face emoji, purple heart emoji.”

He looks up at Harvard. “Why is Kally texting you about Nicholas and Seiji issues? Shouldn’t he just let those two sort it out on their own? And not drag you into it?”

“I’m the team captain. Their personal relationships affect the team. So it’s sort of my business.”

“Hm. All of their pining and fighting is beginning to get on my nerves.”

“Seriously, Aiden, just because you never pine over people doesn’t mean that other people can’t do it. I mean, Nick and Seiji are a bit extreme, but still.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Aiden says with a sad smile. 

Harvard makes Aiden put on a podcast, and the two spend the last hour of the drive listening to the NPR podcast ‘Fresh Air’. Aiden falls asleep after the first few minutes.

He never dreams, and this time is no exception. The moment his eyes close, it all goes black. It feels like five seconds since he closed his eyes, but suddenly Harvard is gently shaking him awake. Aiden looks around groggily to see that they’re in the parking lot of a slightly run-down motel.

“I already got our room key. Do you want to put our stuff inside before we go hunt down some food?” Harvard asks.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

The motel room smells like mildew and dead things. There’s a king-sized bed in the middle, with a green comforter, and a nightstand on either side. The bathroom is through a side door. The ceiling light flickers as Aiden sighs and throws his bag onto the bed. 

“It was the only room they had left,” Harvard apologizes.

Aiden sits down on the bed and bounces up and down a few times. “It’s fine,” he says, “we’re only going to be here for one night.”

They don’t linger long, Aiden searching Google Maps to find the closest Taco Bell, which turns out to be a fifteen minute walk from the motel. They made sure to lock the door behind them, and Harvard checks to make sure the truck is locked as well. The back is crammed with plenty of old furniture and nice china that would probably sell pretty well at an antique store.

The sidewalk wasn’t much of a sidewalk, what with all of the potholes in it, but Aiden doesn’t mind. It’s a warm night with a soft breeze, and the orange pools of light cast by the streetlamps had an inherently romantic feeling. Aiden sneaks a glance at Harvard, who is looking straight ahead, hands in the pockets of his jacket. Harvard looks utterly content, despite just having driven for seven hours, and that makes Aiden smile. He wants to reach out and take Harvard’s hand, but he doesn’t. 

The Taco Bell is located in a classic American strip mall, which also included a dry cleaners, a vape shop, and a boarded-up Blockbuster. Harsh fluorescent light burns Aiden’s eyes as they step inside and join the queue, behind a college-aged girl talking loudly on the phone. Her blond ponytail bobs up and down empathetically as she speaks.

“And so I told Kailee that she should just break up with him, but she was like ‘no, he’s changed this time,’ and I was like ‘that’s what you said last time!’ But she kept going on and on about the apology note he wrote her and the flowers he sent, as if that makes up for anything. And then last night, she called me and was all like, ‘Hannah, you will not believe--”

Aiden reaches out and taps her shoulder. Harvard puts a hand to his temples and shakes his head. 

“Wait, hold on a sec,” the girl says, and then turns around to face them. “Yes?”

Aiden gives his most charming smile, the one that would make anyone melt. “Hey, do you think you could speak a little more softly? My friend here has sensitive hearing.” He pats Harvard’s shoulder. 

“Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry! I’ll be quieter, promise.” She smiles at Aiden and he winks back at her before she resumes her conversation, her voice much quieter.

Harvard sighs. “And why, pray tell, did you feel the need to do that?”

“She was being annoying?”

“That’s- that’s not really a good excuse, but I’ll let it slide this time.”

The girl reaches the counter and orders, and then it’s Harvard and Aiden’s turn. The cashier, a high-school aged boy, looks like he would rather be in the pits of hell than here as he says, “May I please take your order?” in a bored voice. He’s not bad looking, and if it were any other time, Aiden might try to get his number.

“Yeah.” Aiden says. “I’ll have the shredded chicken burrito, a pink lemonade, and a side of chips and guacamole, please.”

“Small, medium, or large lemonade?”

“Large, please.”

The cashier types Aiden’s order into the machine and then looks up at Harvard. “And for you?”

“Could I have the three doritos locos tacos combo and a small pepsi, please?”

“Sure. Will that be all?”

“Yes.” Aiden pays, and the two find a table near the back of the restaurant as they wait for their number to be called. 

Aiden turns to Harvard as soon as they sit down. “Doritos tacos? You’re disgusting. Do you even know what sort of crap is in those things?”

“I know exactly what sort of crap is in them, but I don’t care, because they’re delicious.” He grins. “C’mon Aiden, we’re on vacation. Coach isn’t here to lecture us about the nutritional value of chips or soda. We can do whatever we want. Not that you care what Coach thinks, but still.”

“Hmph.”

Harvard just grins, and gets up to grab the food when their number is called. He sets the tray down on the table and Aiden immediately pulls his burrito towards him and begins to chow down. God, he’s so hungry. Convenience store sandwiches and gatorade do little to fill the stomach of a teenage boy. 

The two eat in silence, scarfing down as much food as they possibly can. The doritos tacos disappear within a minute, and soon Aiden catches Harvard eyeing his chips. He pulls them closer and gives Harvard a glare, which just serves to make the latter more inclined to get his hands on those chips. Soon, a full out war is being waged across the table, with Aiden’s chips as the prize. 

Harvard wins, of course. 

They leave the restaurant with full stomachs and begin to make their way back to the motel. The temperature dropped dramatically while they were inside the restaurant, and Aiden curses his stupid choice to leave his jacket back at the motel as he shivers in the cold night air. 

Then he feels something warm being draped around his shoulders, and looks over to see that Harvard had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around Aiden in an almost protective manner.

“But, won’t you get cold?” Aiden asks, unconsciously snuggling into the jacket, which smells like Harvard’s lavender-scented deodorant. 

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Plus, you looked like you were about to freeze.”

Aiden smiles thankfully and pulls the jacket on properly. Next to him, Harvard shoves his hands into his jeans pockets and looks up at the sky. Aiden follows his gaze to see a huge full moon hanging heavy and waxen in the sky. Around it, stars are splattered into constellations. Orion the hunter. The great bear. Thousands more that Aiden can’t name.

“The stars look different out here,” Harvard says. Aiden doesn’t reply. He doesn’t know how to. 

They spend the rest of the walk back to the motel in silence. When they reach their room, Aiden returns Harvard’s jacket and thanks him. Harvard just smiles and says that he’s going to brush his teeth and shower. 

While Harvard braves the terrors of the motel bathroom, Aiden pulls off his shoes and lies down on the bed, hands behind his head. As he stares up at the cracked, water stained ceiling, he tries not to think about how he and Harvard are going to have to share a bed tonight. 

Of course, it’s not the first time they’ve had to share a bed. There were many sleepovers throughout elementary and middle school, several other disgusting motels, and the one time they had to camp out in Harvard’s dad’s truck. And, of course, they’ve shared a room for years. But something about this feels different. More volatile. Maybe it’s the long hours on the road with only each other for company, but Aiden feels like their relationship is balancing on the edge of a knife. One push, and it all comes falling down. 

And Aiden’s suppressed feelings might just end up being the catalyst. 

He lets out a long breath. Why the fuck did he agree to come on this trip in the first place? He knew what could happen. And yet, when Harvard asked him with that rare glint of mischief in his eyes… Aiden couldn’t say no. Even though he was pretty useless without his license. 

Harvard emerges from the bathroom while Aiden is still lost in thought, wearing his favorite pair of blue pajama pants and an old Saved by the Bell t-shirt that he knows Aiden hates. 

“If you want to take a shower, go ahead. But I’m warning you, I think I saw a rat in there.”

“Yeah, no. I’m just going to brush my teeth.” Aiden heaves himself off the bed and grabs his pajamas and toiletries from his suitcase. He steps into the bathroom and glances around for the ‘rat’ that Harvard saw. Satisfied that there’s nothing there but a rancid stench, he closes the door behind him. 

As he’s brushing his teeth, he notices the mirror is cracked, all the way from the top right to the bottom left. It cuts his face in two, and the halves don’t quite fit back together properly. He stares at the mirror for a long time, gaze slightly unfocused. He has trouble tearing his eyes away.

Eventually he’s able to break his gaze. He leans over the sink and spits out his toothpaste residue. It looks like strawberry frosting. His gums feel raw. 

He flosses and then throws on his pajamas before grabbing his toiletry bag and rummaging around for a hairbrush. He brushes his hair and then takes one last look at himself in the broken mirror. 

When he emerges from the bathroom, Harvard is lying on the bed, reading a book. He looks up at Aiden and asks, “So, did you see the rat?”

Aiden rolls his eyes. “Of course I didn’t,” he says, throwing his clothes and toiletries back into his suitcase and flopping down on the bed next to Harvard, all too aware of their proximity. 

Harvard sets his book down and glances at his watch. “Are you ready to go to bed now? We should probably get up early tomorrow.”

“Yeah, sure,” Aiden says, wriggling under the covers. The faster he falls asleep, the faster he can forget about Harvard lying right next to him. 

Harvard sets his book on the side table and turns off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

“Good night, Aiden.”

“‘Night, Harvard. See you in the morning.”

There’s a long pause. Then:

“Did you know Ohio has an unusually high number of serial killers?”

“Oh my god go to sleep.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: *offers this up in sacrifice to the fandom*


	2. The Inherent Romanticism of Sitting in a Truck for Hours on End

Aiden wakes up to bright sunlight streaming through the motel window’s thin curtains. He sits up and rubs his eyes, yawning. A glance around the room reveals that Harvard is gone, but he’s left a note for Aiden on top of his suitcase. _Going to find BF. Be back around 7:45._

Going to find boyfriend? What boyfriend? Then Aiden thinks a little harder and realizes Harvard must have meant breakfast. He rubs his forehead and gives a small sigh of relief before checking the time on his phone. 7:30. He has about fifteen minutes before Harvard gets back. 

He tries to get out of bed, but his legs are tangled in the blankets and he ends up falling onto the floor in a decidedly ungraceful manner. Then he lies there for a moment, debating whether to get up or just stay like this until Harvard gets back. His limbs feel like logs, and his brain is a bowl of overcooked porridge.

He can almost imagine the conversation now. _“Aiden, what are you doing on the floor?”_ Harvard will ask. And then Aiden will reply: _“Well, I fell out of bed.”_ And then Harvard will laugh at him. And use the story as leverage to get him to show up for practice.

Aiden gets up.

He rummages through his suitcase for a moment, grabbing a black t-shirt and jeans to change into. He eyes the bathroom for a minute, weighing the pros and cons of trying to take a shower. One one hand, he probably smells terrible. One the other hand, rats. After a few moments of deliberation, he ends up heading for the bathroom to brave the horrors of the motel shower. It can’t be all bad, if Harvard used it.

When he emerges from the shower, fully dressed but with his towel still wrapped around his shoulders as he brushes his hair, he sees that Harvard has returned. Harvard stands by the door, pulling off his shoes and jacket. His cheeks are slightly red from the cold morning air, and he’s holding a brown paper bag that smells extremely good. 

“What’s in the bag?” Aiden asks.

“Donuts.” Harvard replies, giving the bag to Aiden. “I got you the chocolate glazed ones.”

Aiden grabs one of his donuts. “Are we going to eat anything healthy on this trip or is it just going to be sugar and carbs?”

“Chill, man, we’re on vacation. But if you want healthy food I suppose we can find a grocery store and get salads for lunch or something.”

“Mm,” Aiden replies, his mouth full of donut. 

Harvard looks around the room, his eyes alighting on the bed, and he smiles. “You brought Harvard Paw?” He says, pointing at the teddy bear still tucked under the covers on Aiden’s side of the bed. 

Aiden folds his arms. “Of course I brought Harvard Paw. You know I can’t sleep in a new place without him.” Harvard smiles at the comment, and Aiden feels his insides turn to mush. Harvard Paw was a present from Harvard a long time ago. Back when teddy bears were still acceptable things to give as presents. His fur is worn and patchy, and one of his eyes is hanging on by a thread. He’s been through a lot, and Aiden wouldn’t give him up for anything in the world.

After eating all of the donuts, they pack up all of their things and throw them back into the van. Harvard goes to check them out and return the keys at the front desk, while Aiden sits in the passenger seat and fiddles with the heating. After that, they officially hit the road for day 2 of Harvard and Aiden’s Excellent Adventure.

Harvard lets Aiden choose the music as they get on the freeway headed to Chicago, their first stop of the day, and soon the truck is filled with the voice of Don McLean. Harvard and Aiden shout along, as tradition dictates.

It is a classic American road trip, after all. 

The sun is high in the sky by the time they stop, although the air is still chilly. This time Harvard lets Aiden fill up the gas tank while he goes to use the restroom. When he comes back, Aiden is taking a selfie with the U-Haul as a background. 

Harvard grins and folds his arms. “Seriously? You’re going to flood your Instagram with such mediocre content?” 

Aiden flicks Harvard’s forehead. “It’s not for my Instagram, it’s for the scrapbook. So when I’m old and gray, I can pull it out whenever I need proof I used to be hot.”

Harvard gives him a weird look. “I really don’t understand you sometimes.”

Aiden rolls his eyes. “I’m kidding. But while we’re at it…” He wraps an arm around Harvard’s shoulders and pulls him into the frame. “Say cheese!” 

Aiden lets go of Harvard, who looks both confused and surprised, and pulls up the picture on his phone. Aiden is as photogenic as ever, smiling radiantly, and Harvard has a look of panic on his face. It’s perfect. He makes it his new lock screen.

After a quick argument: “Delete it.” “It’s going on my story.” “Delete it please.” “Never, it’s a work of art.” “Aiden, please delete it. I look terrible.” “That’s why I love it.”, they get back in the truck. Harvard plugs in his phone and puts on another podcast. Something called Imaginary Worlds? Aiden isn’t really paying attention. He stares out the window, watching as they pass through town after town after town. It’s really weird to think that people actually live here, while Harvard and Aiden are just passing through. 

Aiden watches the cars on the freeway, too. The way they seem to drift alongside the truck like ice skaters, lingering just long enough for Aiden to glance inside the window. And then they drift away again, fish rejoining the school. The sun glints off their metallic paint jobs, leaving black spots in Aiden’s vision.

About an hour later, they decide to stop and grab something for lunch. Aiden, sticking to his principles, pulls up directions to the nearest Whole Foods. They park in the shade and hope out of the car.

A blast of cold air hits the pair as they enter the store, making Aiden regret leaving his hoodie in the truck. Harvard grabs a basket, and they purposely make their way over to the salad bar at the back of the store. Aiden loads up on as many vegetables as possible, knowing that he probably won’t get another chance anytime soon. Harvard grabs several bags of barbeque potato chips, and turns to grab some bottles of orange juice. While he’s distracted, Aiden grabs the chips from the basket and puts them back on the shelf.

Still holding the basket, Harvard glances around the store and then turns back to Aiden. “I don’t really feel like going out to eat again tonight. Do you want to find some dinner stuff here and then just eat at the hotel?”

“Yeah, sure.” Aiden says. “What do you want?”

Harvard grins. “Surprise me,” he says, handing Aiden the shopping basket. “I’ll be waiting in the car.”

Aiden can’t help but grin as well as he turns around and surveys the store. His eyes alight on the lunch counter in the back. He heads over and makes a few requests, loading up his basket before heading to the checkout line. The man in front has a lot in his cart, so Aiden stares at the tabloid covers for a few minutes as he waits. The bold headlines jump out at him, and he learns more about celebrity gossip in two minutes than he has in the past week browsing the internet. 

Eventually the cashier waves him, and he puts his purchases on the conveyor belt. The cashier gives him a few weird looks, but just shrugs as she rings him up. Aiden makes sure the dinner surprise is hidden at the bottom of the grocery bags, where Harvard won’t accidentally see it, then makes his way back to the car. He can’t stop smiling. 

He throws the bags behind his seat, and then Harvard starts up the car and they pull out of the parking lot. Harvard puts on another podcast, claiming that he needs the stimulation if they’re going to make it to Iowa without him having a mental breakdown.

Aiden plugs his headphones into his phone and begins playing some Beyoncé, trying to drown out Harvard’s podcast. Halo is the first song to come on, and Aiden loses himself to the music for a while. There’s something about listening to music in the car. Something in the way the world flies by with the music behind it, like a montage in a movie.

Eventually, he feels a tap on his shoulder. He opens his eyes, not having remembered closing them, to see Harvard beside him. The truck is parked. 

“We’re here.”

“And where, exactly, is here?”

“Grant Park Rose Garden.”

Aiden shifts in his seat so that he can see out of the front window. They’re parked on the street, and cars whir past on one side of them. On the other side, a sprawling green garden dotted with neatly trimmed rose bushes sits. A group of people stroll through it, laughing and talking casually.

“Why?”

“Because we have to do something. My legs feel like a pair of bricks.”

“Yeah, but a rose garden? Seriously?”

“Just come on. Stretch your legs. Breathe in the sweet air.”

“You sound like my father trying to get me to play soccer. ‘It’ll be fun, Aiden!’ and ‘It’s a good source of exercise, Aiden!’ Do you remember how much I hated soccer?”

Harvard laughs before opening his door and hopping out of the truck. Aiden follows, grumbling slightly. He doesn’t mind all that much, though. After all, Harvard is happy. And if Harvard is happy, Aiden is happy.

They stroll through the rose gardens for a while, chatting about the upcoming season and the new team. There’s this determination in Harvard’s voice when he talks about the team that Aiden hasn’t seen before. When he talks about winning the championship, it’s not just wishful thinking. This time, he says it like they have a real chance. His face just seems to light up as he lays out strategies and potential scenarios. He refers to the new freshmen as the ace up his sleeve that the other captains and coaches will never see coming.

“Oh man, you’re really in deep this year, aren’t you?” 

Harvard’s eyes glitter. “C’mon, Aiden, we actually have a chance. Don’t tell me you’re not at least a little bit excited.”

Aiden just shrugs. Winning, losing, it’s all the same. 

Harvard sees the look on his face, and wraps an arm around Aiden’s shoulders. He squeezes gently. “You care about fencing more than you care to admit. I can tell.”

Aiden considers Harvard’s words for a moment. Honestly, he only started fencing because Harvard started fencing. But it turns out he was pretty good, and… well, he does like to win.

But he just hums and lets the question drop. Harvard, to his credit, doesn’t pursue it, and the topic of conversation turns to Harvard’s uncle, the one who’s moving. Aiden has only met him a few times, but Harvard seems to worship the guy. He’s already in LA, waiting to meet them.

After a while, the pair grows bored and decides to get back on the road. Aiden can see how tired Harvard is getting and volunteers to drive for a bit, but Harvard shrugs him off, saying things like ‘it’s against the law, Aiden’ and ‘I really don’t want to go to jail, Aiden’. So Harvard gets behind the wheel once again, while Aiden crawls into the passenger seat. 

Once they pull out onto the freeway, Aiden suggests they play a game. 

“What sort of game?” Harvard asks warily.

“Hmm… twenty questions? I’ll go first.”

“Okay. Is it alive?”

“Yes.”

They go on like that for a while, trading questions back and forth, and the miles just seem to slip away. The sun lowers in the sky, and the horizon is just beginning to turn a thousand shades of pink and orange when Harvard spots a sign saying Davenport city limits. 

The game comes to a halt as Harvard tells Aiden to get his phone out and plug in the location of their hotel. Aiden obliges, and is soon guiding Harvard through the streets of downtown Davenport, searching for the ‘Keystone Hotel and Bar’. They make a couple of wrong turns, and run at least one red light before they finally find it, a little ways past the post office and Target. 

Harvard pulls into the parking lot and turns off the truck, letting out a sigh of relief. Aiden puts his phone in his pocket, stretches out his arms, and cracks his neck. 

“Come on, let’s go get checked in,” Harvard says, opening his door and hopping out of the truck with as much grace as he can manage. Aiden follows, grumbling slightly. He hates waiting around places, especially hotels. And hospitals. And post offices. Any place that has soul sucking decor and three or more fake plants is a no-go for him.

Aiden immediately changes his opinion the moment they walk through the front door and he gets hit with a blast of warm air. It had been surprisingly cold in the truck, and Aiden was too lazy to fish an extra sweater out of his suitcase. 

Harvard gives grins at him, and Aiden responds by sticking his tongue out, making Harvard let out a short bark of laughter. One of the other people in the lobby, an older woman with steel gray hair and an orange handbag, turns around and glares at the pair. Of course, that only serves to make them laugh louder. 

Eventually they get their giggles under control, and join the queue to check in. In front of them is a young couple trying to keep control of their three-year-old son, and a middle aged business man arguing with the woman behind the counter. Aiden begins to tap his foot, and resists the urge to pull out his phone. Harvard looks as chill as ever, eyes roaming the room slowly. 

The man at the front of the line eventually gets his issue sorted out, grumbling the whole time. The family moves up, the woman struggling to keep a hold of her son while she rummages around in her purse. The man gives their name to the woman behind the counter, who looks it up on the computer in front of her. As this is going on, the young boy manages to wriggle free and drops to the ground before running across the lobby, cackling madly. His mother begins to chase after him, but the man needs her help to find something, and in that split second Harvard says, “I’ll get him for you, ma’am,” and takes off.

Both Aiden and the mother are stunned. Harvard jogs over to where the boy is trying to climb up on one of the chairs, and begins talking to him gently, gesturing with his hands. By the time Harvard is finished, he’s able to lead the boy back to his mom, who has managed to find whatever documents were required. She thanks him gratefully, but Harvard just waves her off, saying it was nothing. 

Is this what it feels like to fall in love?

Aiden wants to kiss him right then and there. But he doesn’t, because Harvard is his best friend, and you don’t kiss your best friend. Harvard would never want him anyways. Harvard likes stable relationships, and Aiden tears through boys like a hurricane through Florida.

Eventually the family finishes up checking in, and Aiden and Harvard move to the front of the line. Harvard checks them in, Aiden still tapping his foot impatiently. The woman behind the counter seems so slow. Eventually, she hands Harvard a set of key cards and tells him the room number.

Now that they’re finally done, Aiden drags Harvard back out to the parking lot so they can unload their stuff from the truck and find their room. After a few minutes of trial and error (‘How was I supposed to know we were on the wrong floor? This place suffers from a disgusting lack of signage.’), they’re able to find their room. 

Instead of one bed this time, Harvard managed to find them a room with two twins, each perfectly made with the blandest brown blankets and cream-colored pillows. Aiden doesn’t know whether to be thankful or irritated. On the one hand, he doesn’t have to share a bed with Harvard again. On the other hand… he doesn’t have to share a bed with Harvard again. Aiden sighs and dumps his stuff on the bed closest to the door. 

He heads outside to grab something else from the truck, but pauses when he notices a girl trying to get into the room next door to theirs. She looks about Aiden’s age, with long dark hair in a braid down her back and an olive complexion. She’s currently struggling to open her door with the key card, muttering colorful profanities under her breath. Aiden’s about to shrug it off and go out to the truck, but just at that moment, Harvard comes up behind him, carrying their groceries. 

“Need any help?” He asks, seeing the girl.

“Oh, yeah,” she rubs the back of her head sheepishly. “I’m having trouble unlocking my door.”

Harvard smiles and gently takes the key card from her. “Let me help,” he says, then swipes the card. The little light flashes green and there’s a soft click noise. Harvard hands the girl the card back. 

“Oh my gosh, thank you!” She smiles brightly, and then holds out a hand. “I’m Jiya, by the way.”

Harvard reaches out to shake her hand. “I’m Harvard, and this is Aiden.”

“Are you guys staying here for a while?” She looks almost hopeful.

“No, we’re just passing through. We’re helping my uncle move to Los Angeles.”

“Oh, that’s so cool! Where are you guys from, originally?”

“We go to boarding school in Connecticut. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m from Indianapolis. We’re visiting my grandparents here in Davenport, but they don’t have enough room in their apartment for us, so we have to stay in a hotel whenever we come to see them.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

Aiden tugs on Harvard’s arm, eager to get him away from this girl. For some reason, she just seems off to him. A little bit too nice. Too eager.

“Hey, we should go grab the rest of the stuff from the truck.”

Harvard lifts up the bag he’s holding. “No need. This is the last of it.”

Jiya gives Aiden a once over, and then asks, “Oh, are you two together?”

Harvard laughs, and Aiden wishes it didn’t hurt so much. “No, we’re just old friends. What about you? Got a special someone lurking around here somewhere?”

“Nah, unattached at the moment.” She pauses, and then says, “Hey, this might be a little forward, but do you guys want to go grab something to eat with me? There’s a Wendy’s just down the road.”

Harvard rubs the back of his head awkwardly. “Sorry, we already picked up some stuff for dinner, and I promised Aiden no more fast food for a bit.”

She smiles and brushes it off. “Oh, it’s fine. Maybe I’ll see you guys in the morning?”

“Maybe.”

“Bye, then,”

“Bye.”

The moment Jiya’s door closes, Aiden turns to Harvard. “God that was awkward.”

“Oh, shut up,” Harvard replies, heading inside their room. He sets the last bag on a table and then flops down on his bed, letting out a long sigh. 

Aiden sits down next to him, cross-legged, and grabs the remote. Flipping through a few channels, he asks Harvard what he wants to watch. 

“Is Monty Python on?” Harvard asks, still staring at the ceiling. 

“Doesn’t look like it. But I can pull it up on my laptop if you want?”

“Please.”

Aiden swings his legs off the bed and gets up, walking over to his bag and rummaging around until he finds his laptop. It’s the newest model, and Aiden’s covered it with bright stickers: King’s Row Fencing, bulbasaur, and a pride flag, among others. He grabs it and carries it back over to the bed, setting it down in front of Harvard and booting it up. He signs in quickly, then navigates over to Netflix to get the movie started. 

They both fell in love with the movie when they watched it at a sleepover with some friends in seventh grade. They haven’t seen those friends since middle school, but Harvard and Aiden kept coming back to the movie, and it quickly became one of their go-to favorites. Needless to say, both of them could quote whole scenes from memory. 

About halfway through the movie, Harvard nudges Aiden to get his attention. Aiden pauses the movie and looks at Harvard, who’s sprawled out on his stomach. 

“Should we eat now?” Harvard asks.

Aiden grins. “Sure.” 

He grabs the bag he picked up from the grocery store earlier, and produces an entire pizza box, opening it up and holding it out to Harvard. The other boy laughs out loud. 

“Seriously? What happened to your ‘principles’?”

“It’s like you said. Coach can’t see us here.”

Harvard pulls Aiden in for a one armed hug. “I love you so much.”

When he says that, Aiden’s heart skips a beat. Looking at Harvard, smiling and stuffing his face, he wants to tell him everything. Best friends tell each other things, right? He could lay out all his cards. But when he looks at Harvard, he knows he can’t. He can’t risk losing this. If he said something, everything would suddenly become weird between them. He’s seen it happen before. Years of friendship ruined in the blink of an eye.

Aiden restarts the movie, and within a few minutes they’re laughing again. Aiden pulls out some cupcakes he bought, causing Harvard to make a couple of jokes, and they eat them while they finish up the movie. When it ends, Aiden checks the time. 8:02. Harvard is still lying on the bed, utterly content. Aiden queues up another movie, and they settle in to watch Life of Brian.

After that, Harvard insists they go to bed. Aiden showers and changes into his pajamas, then crawls under the covers, holding Harvard Paw tight to his chest. Across the room, he hears the rustling of covers. The lights get turned off, and the room is plunged into darkness. 

It’s strange how different things look in the dark. A table can become a monster. A pile of clothes can become a hairy beast. And your best friend can become something more. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bitch to edit. Mostly because I didn't want to edit it, so I basically have no one to blame for that but myself :/ But seriously, thanks for reading, it really means a lot to me. I love writing this fic, and I think it's probably one of the best things I've written recently. 
> 
> (and if you're wondering, the song they're listening to in the car is American Pie)


	3. Aiden vs. the American Midwest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: homophobia

Aiden wakes up in the middle of the night, sweating. For a moment, he can’t remember where he is. The room is dark and unfamiliar. He looks around in a panic, and his eyes find Harvard sleeping in the other bed. His heart beating a little bit too fast, Aiden slides out of bed and pads over to Harvard. Gently, as not to wake him, Aiden crawls into bed next to him.

Just Harvard’s presence is enough to make Aiden’s breathing slow and his heart stop trying to escape his chest. He shifts slightly, and then feels an arm wrap around his chest, pulling him closer to Harvard. The other boy doesn’t seem to be awake, but Aiden can still feel his face grow warm.

“Nightmare?” Harvard’s voice is soft. So much for him being asleep.

“Yeah.”

“You want to tell me about it?”

“Not really.”

Harvard rubs Aiden’s back in slow, methodical circles. It feels like something a parent would do, but Aiden wouldn’t know.

“Then try and get back to sleep, okay? I’m here if you need anything.”

Aiden’s eyes begin to close, and he can feel himself nodding off. But just before sleep finally claims him, he swears he hears Harvard whisper something. 

“I’m always here.”

\---

There’s no mention of the previous night when they both wake up. It almost felt like a dream, but they woke up in the same bed, so it obviously wasn’t.

They get dressed quickly, not looking at each other. Aiden pulls on a hoodie and starts to load up the truck. When everything is out of their room, they head to the hotel lobby to snag some complimentary breakfast and check out of their room.

Aiden is loading up on scrambled eggs when he hears a voice behind him. “Oh, hey, I didn’t think I’d see you guys here!”

It’s the girl they met last night. Aiden can’t remember her name. Luckily, Harvard saves him.

“Hi Jiya,” He says, “How was your night?” Oh. Jiya. That’s her name.

Jiya makes a face. “My dad snores like a chainsaw. I think I got like four hours max.”

“That’s rough. You planning to go see your grandparents today?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting them at this art gallery downtown. Some collage show, I think? It’s going to be boring as hell, but those are the sacrifices you make for family, I guess. What are you guys going to do?”

“We’re back on the road as soon as we finish breakfast.”

“Oh, cool. Where’s your next stop?”

“Lone Pine, Nebraska.” Jiya winces at the name. Harvard looks concerned. “What about it?”

“Oh, we drove through there a few years ago. It’s a real dump.”

“Hm. Well, I think we’ll manage. It’s only one night, after all.”

“Yeah. Oh shoot, my dad’s waving me over. Bye! It was nice meeting you!” She hurries off.

Aiden takes a big bite of scrambled eggs and fumes. If anybody is going to be flirting with Harvard it should be him. Harvard sees the look on Aiden’s face and sighs. “We should probably get going.”

“Yeah.”

They check out and head back to the truck, resigning themselves to another long day of driving. Harvard plays an audio book, and they get onto the freeway heading west. 

Outside, rolling grasslands fly by, dotted with scattered farms and a few towns. The sky arches in a blue dome above them, a few clouds scattered across it. They pass several fields with grazing cows, which is an awfully strange sight to Aiden. After all, he’s from the northeast. There are no cows in the northeast. 

Boredom sets in quickly. Aiden scrolls through old photos on his phone, mostly pictures of last year’s fencing team. Kally’s hair is shorter than it is now, but otherwise, nothing huge has changed. Tanner still yells at the refs, and Kally still tries to keep everyone in line, and Harvard is still annoyingly reliable. There’s also a bunch of photos of him and Harvard doing things together. Getting ice cream, going to Harvard’s sister’s soccer games, almost getting the cops called on them in Jersey. 

A lot of memories. Aiden sneaks a glance at Harvard, whose eyes are locked on the road in front of him. There’s so much history between them. And one huge ass secret. 

“Lunch ideas?” Harvard asks a while later. 

“I dunno. Don’t really care, either.”

“Hm.”

A while later, they pull into the Cane’s drive through, and Harvard orders some chicken sandwiches and fries. Lots of fries. You can’t really go to Cane’s without getting a ton of fries, they’re just that good. There’s a Cane’s a couple of blocks from the school, and they would go there for lunch after Saturday morning practices.

Soon they’re back on the road, and Aiden is stuffing himself with chicken and fries with ranch. Harvard is eating too, but he also has to drive, so he’s much slower than Aiden. After Aiden finishes, he stares wistfully at Harvard’s fries, but restrains himself. He doesn’t want a repeat of two nights ago.

A few minutes later, Aiden sees some strange objects looming in the distance. They look like huge grey cylinders rising out of the ground, taller than most buildings. Like something out of a science fiction movie. As they get closer, Aiden can make out brightly colored murals painted on the sides of the cylinders. He points them out to Harvard. 

“Oh, yeah, I remember reading about those. They’re grain elevators.”

“What the fuck is a grain elevator?”

“They’re built to store grain. You know, it’s really weird being out here in farm country. There’s so much open space.”

“Hm. I’m beginning to wonder why Dorothy didn’t just stay in Oz, if this is what she had to come home to.”

Harvard laughs. Aiden’s chest feels a little bit tighter. 

They drive in silence for a bit longer, the air filled with the easy silence of two people who know each other inside and out. They don’t need to talk. They can just be together, and everything just seems to click into place. Everyone always asks why they’re friends. Well, they phrase it a bit more politely, but that’s about the gist of it. People think that friends need to be similar to like the same things and have the same hobbies. But that’s not true. Often, the best friends are opposites. They balance each other out, and reign each other in. That’s how Aiden and Harvard are. Perfect opposites.

Aiden leans back against the seat and closes his eyes. Everything seems so simple, out here in the middle of nowhere. There’s no ex-boyfriends, no fencing team, no homework, no friends. There’s nothing out here except Harvard and Aiden and their history. So why can’t he say anything? He doesn’t have any problem asking out other boys, so why is Harvard so untouchable?

Maybe it’s their history. Everything they’ve been through together. Every scraped knee and kindergarten brawl. Every group project and report card and talent show. Their first day of middle school. The day Aiden came out. The day Harvard broke his arm. Everything they’ve done at King’s Row. Every memory Aiden has, Harvard’s there. 

If he didn’t know Harvard, if they had been strangers and met by chance, would Aiden have asked him out by now?

Probably.

And he hates that.

He glances over at Harvard, who seems oblivious to everything whirling around in Aiden’s head. He seems so content in that moment, and Aiden feels guilty for even thinking about messing it up. Besides, he’s got no chance. Harvard is as straight as they come.

All of Aiden’s thoughts are interrupted by a series of pings from his and Harvard’s cell phones. Aiden picks his phone up, and sees that Kally had texted them on their old group chat from last year’s fencing team.

“What is it?” Harvard asks.

“Kally texted us.” He opens up his messages and sees that Kally has sent a single, blurry cell phone photo and a row of exclamation marks.

“What did he say? Is it about Nicholas and Seiji again, because honestly those two need to get their shit together soon or there are going to be major problems.”

Aiden takes a good look at the picture and bursts out laughing. “Looks like they did.”

Harvard frowns. “What do you mean?”

Aiden tilts the phone towards Harvard, who takes his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at the photo. He starts laughing as well.

The picture is taken from a weird angle, and is pretty blurry, but you can still make out Nicholas and Seiji standing next to the dumpster behind the fencing salle. Kissing.

“Took them long enough,” Harvard remarks. 

“Yeah, the pining stuff was getting pretty annoying. God, they were both so fucking oblivious.” Kind of like you, he wants to add.

“Yeah,” Harvard chuckles. “But do you think the team dynamic is going to be weird now? I don’t think we’ve had anybody on the team dating before.” Mostly thanks to Aiden’s rule of never sleeping with guys on the team. 

“Um, Tanner and Kally?”

“Yeah, but Tanner and Kally are Tanner and Kally. It doesn’t count.”

“Well, whatever Nicholas and Seiji have going on now will hopefully be better than that weird rivalry thing.”

“True.”

Inside, Aiden wants to scream. Why do Nicholas and Seiji get to have their happily ever after while he’s stuck here with a boatload of feelings he doesn’t want and a best friend who will never love him back? 

To distract himself, he plugs in his earbuds and goes specifically to his ‘I don’t want to think about Harvard right now’ playlist, helpfully titled ‘...fuck’. Halsey blasts through his earbuds, way to loud, but he doesn’t bother to turn it down. The music drowns out all of the voices in his head, covering them with heavy bass.

A few hours later, just as Aiden’s legs are beginning to fall asleep, Harvard pulls off the freeway and onto a small, badly paved road. Aiden sits up and looks around, noticing an abundance of corn and a lack of anything remotely interesting. He sighs as they pass a sign saying ‘Welcome to Lone Pine, Nebraska, pop. 9,312’. 

They drive down the main street until they reach the motel, where Harvard parks, hops out of the truck, and goes to get them checked in. Aiden glances around the single main street. There’s a grocery store, a few restaurants, and an antiques shop. There’s also a bar, which he takes note of for later. 

Harvard returns to the truck with their room keys jingling in one hand. He sticks them in his pocket, and then they unload their stuff from the truck and head into their room, dumping it all by the door the moment they walk inside. The room has some sort of weird hunting theme going on; there’s a mounted deer’s head on the wall and schematic drawings of various types of rifles hung above the beds. The walls are painted a muddy green, and the whole room smells musty. Aiden half expects his grandfather to walk through the door and start telling one of his old ‘when I was a boy’ stories. Harvard doesn’t seem to notice the weird vibes though, kicking off his shoes and sitting down on one of the beds. It bounces a little under his weight. 

Aiden takes off his shoes as well, setting them neatly beside the door before going and falling face-first onto his bed. The blankets smell even worse than the rest of the room, and are coarse and scratchy. Aiden sighs into them, accepting the fact that he’s probably not going to be getting an awful lot of sleep tonight. He glances over at Harvard out of the corner of his eye. Harvard notices him looking and grins.

“What are you thinking about?”

“My forthcoming sleep deprivation. You?”

“I’m wondering why the plural form of moose isn’t meese. I feel like it should be meese.”

“What the actual fuck, Harv.”

“Hey, you’re the one who asked me. I gave you an answer.”

“Okay then, let’s try this. What else are you thinking about? Besides fucking meese.”

“No, no. I don’t want to the fuck the meese.”

“Stop.”

“Okay, but seriously? I’m thinking about how much this place gives me the creeps. The midwest, the rows and rows and rows of corn… Honestly, I’m half-expecting a possessed scarecrow to come bursting through that door right now.”

Aiden glances over at the door. It’s closed. He turns back to Harvard, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s something you’re going to have to worry about.”

“You never know.”

Aiden rolls his eyes, but he can’t stop a small grin from creeping onto his face. The more tired he is, the more Harvard spouts absolute nonsense. 

“I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, we should probably go find some food,” Aiden says, sitting up and crossing his legs. “I saw a bar across the street, we could go there. Actually have some fun during our vacation.”

“They’ll card us for sure.”

“Not if we have these,” Aiden says, rummaging around in the pocket of his jacket until he finds a pair of ID cards. He tosses them over to Harvard. 

“Fake IDs? Seriously?” Harvard looks a bit closer and his eyes widen. “Okay, these look pretty legit. Where did you get them?”

Aiden grins. “Kally.”

“What?” 

“You heard me. Kally is really good at forgeries. How do you think Tanner manages to weasel his way out of trouble all the time?”

“And Kally made these for you?” Harvard asks incredulously. 

“Birthday present.”

“Huh.” Harvard turns the cards over in his hands a few times. Then, a mischievous light comes into his eyes. “Let’s do it.”

Aiden lets out a whoop and an arm pump.

\---

The bar isn’t crowded when they walk in, but there are still plenty of people sitting around, nursing their beers and talking loudly. The room is slightly dark, and smells like a combination of cigarette smoke and sweat. Aiden drags Harvard to a spot by the bar, then orders them french fries, nachos, and burgers. And beers, of course. Got to make sure those fake IDs are put to good use. After ordering, Aiden swivels around on his stool to get a better view of the rest of the bar. 

There’s a couple of TVs mounted on the walls, one playing a football game and the other showing hockey. Most of the guys in the bar have their eyes glued to the football game, cheering or booing at seemingly random intervals. Aiden also notices that there aren’t any women in the bar, and that he and Harvard are the youngest patrons by a long shot. Most of the men look to be in their late twenties and thirties, wearing trucker hats and scruffy beards. He sees at least three MAGA hats. Aiden’s lip curls involuntarily. Maybe this wasn’t the best place to come. 

Harvard glances at the hockey game and lets out a low whistle when he sees the score. Aiden gives him a questioning look, and Harvard says, “Toronto is losing to Ottawa.”

“I have absolutely no idea what that means. And I don’t want to,” He says when he notices Harvard opening his mouth. “I’m assuming your dad still follows hockey religiously?”

Harvard puts his head in his hands and groans. “It’s on all the damn time. Everytime I’m home, the TV is on and it’s just hockey, hockey, hockey. I’m so sick of it.”

Aiden hums sympathetically as their food arrives. The two boys get distracted by burgers for a while, stuffing themselves in silence. It’s moments like these that Aiden knows he’ll remember for years and years to come. The little things. It turns out that the food is surprisingly good for a random bar out in the middle of nowhere, and Aiden eats with gusto. Eventually, their frantic eating slows down, and they pick their way through the nachos while debating whether or not Seiji and Nicholas’ newfound romance would last through the week. Aiden thinks they’ll be broken up by Saturday. Harvard thinks they’ll make it work. They wager twenty bucks on the outcome.

“Honestly, it’s basically a win-win scenario for me. Either Seiji and Nicholas stay together and have their happy fairy tale romance, or they break up and I get twenty dollars. And bragging rights.”

Harvard laughs and shoves Aiden’s shoulder good-naturedly. Aiden can feel his heart rate pick up.

“And what about you?” Harvard asks, taking a sip of his beer and looking at Aiden.

“What about me?”

“Are you ever going to actually date someone, or keep up your single use streak?”

“Eh, I’m not really one for romance.”

“Oh come one. We both know that isn’t true, we binge watch romance movies everytime I come over to your house. And you always cry.”

“I guess I like the idea of a relationship in theory, but not in practice?” Unless it’s you, he wants to say. “I think I’ll just settle for trying to sleep with every hot guy at King’s Row.”

A guy sitting a few stools down from Aiden at the bar mumbles something under his breath. Something that sounds suspiciously detrimental.

“Excuse me?” Aiden says, turning to face the man. “What did you say?”

The man says it again, louder this time.

“Freak.”

Aiden is already on his feet before he even registers what he’s doing. His stool scrapes against the wood floor, and he can feel the attention of the whole bar focus on him.

“What did you say?” He can hear his own disbelief. Or maybe he just wants it to be disbelief. This isn’t the first time, and he doubts it will be the last.

“I said, you’re a freak.” The man stands up as well. “And you don’t belong here.”

Aiden takes a moment to size the guy up. He’s about 6’ 2”, maybe 200 pounds? He’s got bushy brown hair and a full beard, and a yankees hat is pulled low over his face. By contrast, Aiden is a full two inches shorter and dozens of pounds lighter. Getting into a fight with this guy is a bad idea. But he can’t let it go. 

“Aiden, c’mon. This is a bad idea.” Harvard says, putting a hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “He’s not worth it.”

“You’re standing up for this kid?” The guy asks. “Bet you’re a freak, just like him.” He spits on the floor, as if to punctuate his sentence. 

That’s the final straw. No one can say things like that to Harvard and get away with it, not on Aiden’s watch. He’s about to lunge at the guy when someone jumps between them, holding out their arms in a placating gesture. 

“Woah, calm down. There’s no need for violence here.” New guy looks about eighteen or nineteen, with short black hair artfully mussed up. He’s wearing a red flannel, unbuttoned to reveal an old Rolling Stones t-shirt underneath. 

“He insulted me and my friend,” Aiden says, glaring.

“Couple of freaks like you deserve it.” 

Harvard has to hold Aiden back. 

Flannel guy turns to them and says, “You guys should probably get out of here. I can handle him.” And then, in a whisper, “I’ll meet you outside the antiques store.”

Harvard nods and pulls Aiden away, out of the bar and onto the dark street. Aiden’s jaw is still clenched in rage as they stop outside the antiques store and wait.

“I can’t believe that guy said that about you.” Aiden manages to get out, turning and slamming his fist into the wall. “What an asshole.”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure he insulted you first.” 

“Yeah, but--” Flannel guy appears, cutting off the rest of Aiden’s sentence. 

“I’m so, so sorry about that,” Flannel guy apologizes, rubbing the back of his head. “Jim is a homophobic asshole and deserves everything that’s coming to him, but normally he doesn’t try to start brawls with people he just met. And I’m sorry I asked you guys to leave.”

Harvard waves him off. “You made the right call. If we hadn’t left, things would probably have gotten bad.”

“Who are you, by the way?” Aiden asks, noticing that flannel guy is actually pretty cute.

“Oh, yeah!” He holds out his hand. “I’m Marcus, and my dad’s the one who owns the bar.”

Aiden shakes his hand. “I’m Aiden, and this is Harvard. Sorry for almost causing a bar fight.”

“Eh, it’s fine. Again, Jim was being an fucking idiot. I had half a mind to at least let you get one good punch in.” Aiden laughs.

Somehow, the three of them end up walking down the main road as Marcus asks them, “So, are you guys just passing through?”

“Yeah,” Harvard replies. “Connecticut to LA.”

Marcus lets out a low whistle. “Damn, that’s one hell of a drive.”

“Mm.” Harvard replies, shoving his hands into his pockets and tilting his head back to get a good look at the stars. Marcus notices, and asks if they want to head up to the lookout to get a better view. It feels like he’s trying to make up for some of what happened earlier, so Harvard and Aiden agree. Marcus leads them out of town and up to some sort of watchtower that sits in the middle of a corn field. 

The watchtower isn’t anything more than a small platform with a railing on stilts. There’s a ladder handing over the side, and the three boys climb up one after another. Aiden’s the last up, heaving himself over the railing and then immediately catching his breath. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Marcus asks. “The only good part about living in the middle of nowhere. 

He’s right. Aiden can see thousands of stars, splayed out against the blackness of the sky like silver paint. He can pick out the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper, Orion’s Belt… everything is so clear. So much clearer than back at King’s Row, or any of the places they’ve stopped. Out of habit, he glances at Harvard. The other boy has a look of awe on his face, and Aiden smiles.

Eventually, the shock of seeing so many stars wears off, and the boys begin chatting amongst themselves. Marcus tells them about growing up in Lone Pine without many people his age, stuck in one of the reddest places in the country. In turn, Aiden and Harvard tell him about King’s Row, and their epic road trip.

“Wait. We’re all seniors, right?” Marcus asks. Harvard and Aiden nod, slightly confused. “Then how did you guys get into the bar in the first place?”

“Uh, fake IDs? A friend made them for us.”

Marcus laughs, and then sighs wistfully. “Man, you guys get to do so many interesting things. Me, I’m stuck right here for the foreseeable future.”

“Hey, you should come out to the East Coast sometime,” Harvard suggests. “Everything’s better there. The food, the weather, people’s tolerance levels are higher…”

Marcus smiles ruefully. “Someday. Maybe someday.”

They end up heading back into town, partly because Marcus needs to get back to helping his dad at the bar, and partly because Harvard is in desperate need of a good night’s sleep. Outside the bar, the two of them trade numbers with Marcus, then say goodnight and head their separate ways. 

Aiden and Harvard get back to their room and immediately collapse into their respective beds, sighing with relief.

“That was certainly an adventure,” Harvard remarks.

“Yeah. Damn, I really hate the Midwest. Too many homophobes.”

“Hmm. Marcus was nice though. We should keep in touch.”

“Yeah.” 

There’s a few minutes of silence. Aiden wonders if Harvard fell asleep by accident. But then:

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s just… I dunno, you seemed really riled up back in the bar. That guy, he said some pretty hurtful things.”

“Don’t worry, Harv, I’ve got thick skin.”

“...okay.” There’s a few rustling noises. “We should probably get to bed soon.”

They both get up and begin to get ready for bed, changing into their pajamas and brushing their teeth. Aiden notices that Harvard doesn’t bother changing his shirt, he just pulls on a pair of sweatpants and crawls under the covers. Aiden wants to ask him what’s up, but doesn’t. Harvard doesn’t like to talk about his feelings.

Aiden crawls into bed a few minutes later and turns off the lights, plunging the room into darkness. He snuggles into his blankets and half-whispers to Harvard. “Goodnight, Harvard.”

“Goodnight, Aiden. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

“Oh my god you don’t think this place has bedbugs, do you?”

“Goodnight, Aiden.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: in America, the term 'red' is used to refer to an area where people vote primarily republican. MAGA stands for 'Make America Great Again', the slogan from Trump's campaign
> 
> I really hated writing this chapter. It just makes me really angry, especially because a lot of what happens in the story happens all the time in real life. 
> 
> To everyone out there struggling with homophobia, I just wanted to remind you that you are absolutely perfect just the way you are. You are not strange, or wrong, or weird. You are wonderful, and anybody who thinks otherwise deserves to get all their toes bitten off by rattlesnakes.


	4. Just Shut Up and Let Me Drive (or Sleep? I Don't Need Sleep)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: 24 hours without sleep has the same effect of a bac of 0.10%

Aiden is jolted from his sleep by a loud bang. Disoriented, he sits up and scans the room, trying to find the source of the noise. His eyes alight on Harvard, who is staring at a water bottle he just dropped and cursing silently.

“I hope you and your whole family burn in hell.” Aiden grumbles, rolling over and burying his face back in his pillow.

“Sorry, Aiden. But I was about to wake you up anyways. Marcus asked if we wanted to grab coffee before we left, so we have to get going soon.”

“I hate you.”

“Mmm, I don’t think you do.”

Aiden pushes aside his blankets and swings his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up and stretching as he does so. Something in his back cracks. “I hope you suffer a long and painful death at the hands of a frog wearing clown makeup.”

“That’s… worryingly specific. But seriously, admit it.” Harvard has a shit-eating grin on his face. “You couldn’t live without me.”

Aiden throws a pillow at him instead of answering.

Eventually they do pack up, check out of the motel, and head down to the coffee shop to meet Marcus. Aiden gets four shots of espresso in his mocha and the barista gives him a worried look. Harvard gets plain black coffee. Marcus is sitting at a table by the window, eating a croissant. He waves them over after they’ve ordered.

They chat with Marcus for about a half an hour, at the end of which Harvard glances at his watch, swears, and says they have to get on the road right now. They say goodbye to Marcus, and before Aiden knows it, they’re back on the freeway, California-bound. 

“Hmm, let’s never come back to Nebraska again, okay?” Aiden says, pulling out his phone and taking a snapchat. 

“Yeah, that’s probably a good plan. I don’t think the Midwest suits us,” Harvard says, and Aiden laughs.

The interstate is virtually empty, save for a few pickup trucks and semis. Aiden sees an awful lot of Trump 2020 bumper stickers, and he tries to convince Harvard to honk at those cars, but Harvard won’t go for it. Slightly dejected, Aiden curls up in his seat and proceeds to stare out the window, looking for the stupidest billboards, a game that’s always fun in New England. Unfortunately, the only billboards he can see are for McDonalds and various farming equipment companies, which, all in all, aren’t that interesting. He does see a few cows, though, which makes him perk up a bit. 

Harvard doesn’t seem to notice most of this, his hands tight on the wheel. There are dark bags under his eyes, and Aiden wonders how much sleep he actually got last night. Harvard is an insomniac, and it isn’t rare for him to only get three or four hours of sleep a night. Aiden really wants to take over driving for a while so Harvard can get some rest, but he knows his friend will get mad if he offers again. Looking back, Aiden really regrets that DUI.

He had gone to a party the week before they left. One of those spur of the moment decisions he makes when he doesn’t want to be around Harvard. When he can’t be around Harvard, and he just wants to get drunk and hook up with a stranger. So he went to a party hosted by a friend of a friend, some girl who went to a public school in the area. And he had drunk until the world was spinning around him, and gotten his hookup. But by the time he wanted to leave, it was late, and he didn’t feel like calling anybody to pick him up at two in the morning. In retrospect, he should have probably just called an Uber, but the thought hadn’t entered his alcohol-addled mind. So he got back into his car and started driving home, and lo and behold, he gets pulled over. 

He’s underage and his BAC is 0.21%, so they take him to the police station, and he has to call his stepmom to come pick him up. And of course, she’s absolutely pissed at him. And unfortunately, he has to go to school on Monday. That’s when Harvard asks him about doing this trip during their fall break. And, like an idiot, Aiden says yes. 

He always says yes to Harvard. 

Aiden shakes his head and refocuses on the world outside the truck. The landscape has gotten slightly hillier, and the freeway carves across the ground like a giant snake. A few trees are littered in between large, open fields. It feels like something out of an old eighties movie, with the bright colors and open roads. He can almost imagine a synth-rock soundtrack playing in the background as the truck roars down the road. 

They’re almost to the Colorado border when everything starts to go wrong. 

First: the engine begins to sputter. 

Harvard frowns. “Aiden, do you hear that noise?”

“What noise?” Aiden puts down his phone for a moment. 

“It sounds like there’s something wrong with the engine.”

Second: the truck begins to slow down.

“Uh, Harvard, can’t you drive any faster?”

“I’m trying, but something won’t let me.”

Third: they have to pull over.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Harvard groans, resting his head on the steering wheel.

“I can’t believe this is happening in Nebraska. I mean, couldn’t the truck have picked a better place to break down?”

“Shut up, Aiden.”

There’s a few beats of silence before Aiden asks, “So… what do we do?”

Harvard leans against the front of the truck and puts his head in his hands. “Just… give me a minute. I’m trying to think.”

A few seconds pass. A light breeze picks up and ruffles Aiden’s hair, which he tied up in a ponytail this morning instead of actually dealing with it. The day is warming up quickly, and Aiden shrugs off his jacket and ties it around his waist. Already there are sweat stains on his light blue t-shirt, making him frown in annoyance.

Harvard pulls out his phone. “Okay,” he says, “I think I know what to do.” 

“And what is that?”

“Call the U-Haul corporate service number. I bet they can get us a tow truck or something.” He dials a number and puts his phone up to his ear. 

While Harvard’s talking on the phone, Aiden pushes open his door and hops out onto the asphalt. Looking into the distance, he can see the air begin to waver with heat as he wanders a little ways down the freeway. They’ve pulled over into the breakdown lane, and it’s littered with all sorts of strange things. Old tires, broken bottles, plastic bags, and even a pair of women’s underwear, which Aiden glances at with disgust. A few cars whiz by, but none of them come very close to where the truck is. 

Eventually, Harvard gets off the phone and calls Aiden back over. “So, the good news is, they’re sending us a tow truck. The bad news is, it’ll be about an hour before it arrives. So we should probably just hang out in the truck while we wait.”

“Sure.”

They climb back into the truck, and Aiden plugs his phone into the speaker system. Harvard looks at him wearily as Aiden scrolls through his Spotify playlists. Eventually he finds one and clicks on it, turning the volume of the stereo down slightly. They argue about the song choice for a few minutes, but eventually end up agreeing to disagree.

And that’s what makes Harvard and Aiden work. Everyone is always surprised to learn that the dependable, down-to-earth fencing team captain and the school playboy are best friends, but it’s because they understand each other. They’ve been together through thick and thin, through breakups and sibling fights and school troubles. They’ve had their issues, but they get over them, and grow closer because of them. Harvard and Aiden’s friendship is a web of checks and balances, give and take. 

And if something was to tip the scales, upset the balance... Aiden has no idea what that would do. 

Harvard’s phone begins to ring and the other boy sighs, fishing it out of his pocket and checking the caller ID. He frowns, and then clicks to accept the call, turning it to speaker phone so Aiden can hear.

“Hey, Harvard, honey, how are you? Is your trip going okay? Where are you now?”

Harvard sighs and Aiden grins. Ms. Lee can be pretty overprotective sometimes. “Mom, I’m fine. Also, you’re on speakerphone, so Aiden can hear everything.”

“Hi Ms. Lee!” 

“Hi Aiden!”

“And yes, our trip is going okay. We’re almost to Colorado.” Harvard meets Aiden’s eyes and mouths “don’t tell her the truck broke down.”

“How many more days before you get to LA? And when are you flying back again?”

“We should get to LA tomorrow afternoon. We’re going to fly back two days after that.”

“Okay, sweetie. Stay safe! Bye!”

“Bye, Mom.” “Bye, Ms. Lee.”

Harvard hangs up and rests his forehead on the steering wheel. “Why is everything going wrong today?”

“Uh, you’re classifying your mom calling as something that’s wrong with today?”

Harvard sits up and rubs at his temples. “Ugh, no, I guess. It’s just a little bit overwhelming, you know?”

“Not really.” Harvard gives him a look. “Okay, okay, I’m sure it’s horrible. But we don’t need to be stressed out right now. The tow truck will come soon, and the truck will get fixed, and then we’ll be on our merry way.”

Two hours later, and Harvard is in full on panic mode. Aiden is trying to calm him down, but truth be told, he’s beginning to panic a little too. 

“I should call them again.”

“Harv, they said the tow truck is on it’s way. You calling them again is not going to help at all.”

“But what if the tow truck broke down?”

“Then the tow truck is going to need a tow truck, but there’s nothing we can do about that. Just chill out, okay? Everything is going to be fine.”

Eventually the tow truck does arrive, prompting a huge sigh of relief from Harvard. Unfortunately, the closest U-Haul center is back the way they came, about half an hour. 

When they get there, they learn that there aren’t any trucks available for them to switch out, and that they’ll have to wait for their truck to get fixed. And of course, the mechanics have no idea how long that’s going to take, so Aiden and Harvard just have to sit tight in another middle of nowhere tiny town for who knows how long. 

By this point, it’s lunch time, so the pair wanders around the small downtown area looking for something to eat. They end up in a 50s-style diner, complete with red vinyl booths, vintage milkshake glasses, and a jukebox that doesn’t have any songs from after 1972. 

A waitress comes over to take their order, dressed in a red and white striped dress and a white hat. She talks with a heavy midwestern accent, voice monotone as she takes down their orders quickly and efficiently. After she leaves, Aiden looks over at Harvard.

“This feels really weird. Like we’ve gone back in time, or something.” He looks around the diner. “I feel like we’re not supposed to be here. Is that weird?”

“The fifties was before the civil rights movement and homosexuality was still classified as a mental illness. So yeah, we would have probably not been in here.”

Aiden sighs. “The cishet white man strikes again.”

Aiden does enjoy the food when it finally comes, but he can’t turn off how out of place he feels here. As much confidence as Aiden likes to project, he’s not all that sure of himself in unfamiliar places. They eat in silence, pay the bill, and leave.

Back on the street, Harvard makes a quick phone call to the auto shop where the truck is being repaired. They say it’s going to be another two hours at least. While Harvard is on the phone, Aiden spots a thrift store and immediately has a horribly good idea. 

As soon as Harvard gets off the phone, Aiden is dragging him towards the store. 

“Where are we going?” Harvard asks.

“There.” Aiden points. 

“I really don’t think I can watch you try on clothes for two hours. I love you dearly, but that’s a little excessive.” Aiden’s heart flutters when Harvard says ‘I love you’, but he stomps it down. Now is not the time.

“Who said I’m the only one who’s going to be trying stuff on?” Aiden replies as they enter the store, a little bell above the doorway announcing their arrival.

“Aiden, please don’t make me do this.”

“Harvard, your wardrobe literally consists of gray t-shirts and jeans. I’m doing the whole world a favor here. Now let’s see…” He mumbles, turning around to survey the store while still keeping a firm grip on Harvard’s wrist.

Aiden pulls things off the rack whenever he sees something remotely interesting. A striped button down, a pair of red bell bottom jeans, and a bright yellow ruffled shirt are all in a pile before Harvard even has a chance to protest. 

Aiden sends Harvard to go try things on, and finds himself a seat right next to the changing room, pulling out his phone and checking his Instagram DMs. There’s a few from people he knows from school, so he responds to those, overusing exclamation points and emojis in his signature style. Harvard always says Aiden’s texts look like a thirteen year old girl’s Tumblr posts. Aiden says that’s a compliment, as he knows some hilarious thirteen year old bloggers. 

He sees a text from Marcus, a picture of half a scarecrow lying in the middle of the road.  _ Does this qualify as an omen? _ the text reads. Aiden grins and begins to text back. 

About a minute later, Harvard calls out from the dressing room.

“I look like I’m a member of Queen. Why do you do this to me.”

“Because I get bored easily and this is a source of entertainment. Now come on out, I want to see.”

There’s a very loud, dramatic sigh, and then Harvard comes out of the dressing room, arms folded across his chest. He’s wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a white button down shirt, and a black blazer with rhinestones on the lapels. 

God, he looks so good.

“I love it.”

“I don’t.”

“Oh, c’mon, Harv, you have to at least give it a shot.”

“I did. I tried it on.”

“Okay, okay. Next outfit?”

“One more. One. That’s it.”

“Okay.”

True to his word, he does try on one more outfit, a pair of black pants and a light yellow shirt, but Aiden can see that something’s up, so he doesn’t push anymore. Harvard changes back into his regular clothes and comes out, dumping all of the stuff Aiden picked out for him onto the ‘doesn’t fit’ rack. Aiden feels mildly offended.

“Harvard, are you okay? You seem kind of off.”

“I’m fine,” Harvard replies, sitting down on a bench across from Aiden.

“I’ve known you for over a dozen years. You are clearly not fine. You’re acting like I do whenever Orlando Bloom starts dating someone again. Spill.”

“I’m fucking fine, okay?” It’s almost a shout, and it shocks Aiden into silence. Harvard never raises his voice. Never.

“I just need to be alone for a bit,” Harvard says, standing up. He has his fists clenched at his sides, knuckles white. “I’ll- I’ll text you.” He leaves.

Aiden is in shock. This isn’t like Harvard at all. Harvard is calm and level-headed, even though he does have a slight mischievous streak. He’s the moderator, the ‘break it up, you two’ guy. Normally when he’s upset, he retreats inside himself, stops talking as much, holds everything in and doesn’t tell anybody. He never blows up like this. Never. 

And the worst part is, Aiden has no idea what’s going on. Everything has been fine so far. They’re cruising through their senior year, fencing is going great, and as far as Aiden knows, Harvard’s home life is fine. Even this trip has been going fairly well, aside from some minor mishaps And then, all of a sudden everything has just flipped. He wants to know what’s going on, what he can do to help, but Harvard’s made it clear he doesn’t want to talk about it. 

So Aiden leaves him alone. He browses through the thrift store for a little while longer, and then leaves and starts walking up the main street. He passes a few stores, pauses to look at the listings in the window of the realtors office, and comes to a full stop in front of the animal shelter. He stands there for almost ten minutes, watching the cats through the window. Aiden’s always wanted a cat, but his dad’s allergic. 

Eventually he drags himself away, walking up the street until he finds a bakery. He heads inside, and is immediately assaulted by the aroma of cinnamon and chocolate. His mouth starts to water. He stands over the display cabinets for what seems like an eternity, eyes going back and forth between different varieties of sugary baked bread.

He ends up picking out a raspberry danish, two cinnamon rolls, and a bear claw. The lady ringing him up smiles sweetly as she says, “Wow, that’s an awful lot of sugar for one guy.”

Aiden smiles back. “I’m getting some for my friend, too.” He tucks a wayward strand of hair behind his ear. “He’s kind of mad at me right now.”

The woman hands him a brown paper bag with all the food in it. “Well, I think he’ll appreciate the thought, even if he is mad at you right now.”

Somehow, her words make Aiden feel a little bit better. He waves goodbye and heads back outside, his phone buzzing with a text. He pulls it out and sees that it’s from Harvard. 

_ Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. Can you meet me back at the auto shop? _

Aiden sends back a thumbs up emoji.

When he gets to the shop, Harvard is sitting on the low wall outside. His sleeves are rolled up and his jeans are cuffed. He’s leaning back, staring up at the sky, a contemplative look on his face.

“Hey there, Ponyboy.” Aiden remarks, sitting down next to Harvard and offering him the bag of pastries. Harvard makes a face at the name, but accepts the bag. 

“I’d rather be Soda, to be honest.” Then he looks in the bag and says, “Oh, these look delicious. Thank you.”

“Consider it my apology.”

Harvard shakes his head. “If anything, I’m the one who owes you an apology. I snapped at you without a good reason, and I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Aiden says, and then grins mischievously. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“No. It’s personal.”

“Harvard, I’m your best friend. You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Not this. Sorry.”

Aiden shrugs and decides not to push. Harvard will tell him what’s going on when he’s ready. In the meantime, he grabs one of the cinnamon rolls from the bag and sits back, enjoying the quiet for a moment. A few cars buzz down the street, and a murder of crows flies overhead. 

“How long until the truck is fixed?” Aiden asks, taking a big bite of his cinnamon roll and shivering in sugary ecstasy.

“They still haven’t figured out what’s wrong with it, so I don’t know.”

“Are we going to have to stay the night here?”

Harvard frowns. “I sure hope not.”

They end up walking around again together, trying to kill time. While most of the tension between them has been resolved, some things linger on. Aiden notices Harvard acting a little more sharp than usual, and treads lightly. It’s a weird feeling. The only other time they were this careful around each other was the week after Harvard’s grandma passed away, back in sixth grade. 

Aiden can’t help but think he might have something to do with Harvard’s mood. Did Harvard somehow find out about Aiden’s massive crush? Or did Aiden do something weird? Harvard doesn’t want to talk about whatever’s going on with him, is it because it’s Aiden’s fault? A pit starts to open up in Aiden’s stomach. He tries not to think about it too hard.

Luckily the tension doesn’t escalate, and by nightfall, they’ve fallen back into their old routines of teasing each other mercilessly. Harvard gets a call from the auto shop, saying the truck will be ready in an hour, and they decide to find some dinner before going to pick it up.

They end up at a little Italian place, full of light and noise and surprisingly good food. They talk about all the meaningless things, teachers and grades and school gossip. Aiden is still treading carefully, and the conversation stays within the realm of light and humorous. Harvard is telling a story about a classmate who fell asleep during an APUSH lecture on the civil rights movement when all the lights go out. There’s a moment of silence, and then everyone starts talking at once. The cacophony is deafening. 

“What’s going on?”

“Is the power out?”

“What happened?”

“What about my food?”

“Does anybody have a flashlight?”

Eventually, one of the staff members finds a flashlight and comes out into the restaurant to tell everyone that there was a power outage. They say that they’re calling the electrician now, but the restaurant has to close temporarily. Full refunds for everyone. 

Immediately everyone starts talking, and Harvard sighs. “Let’s just go,” he says to Aiden, who nods. They get up and head out, navigating their way through a darkened sea of tables and annoyed customers. 

Out on the street, the air is brisk and cold, and a small breeze begins to ruffle Aiden’s hair as they make their way back towards the car dealership. Judging from the lights, a few businesses on the same block have lost power. Luckily, the auto shop isn’t affected, bright light spilling out onto the street as the pair approaches. 

The truck is finally fixed, and after some paperwork they’re finally able to get back on the road. It’s almost eight.

“Harv, are you sure you don’t just want to stay the night here? It’s another 18ish hours to LA.”

“We’re doing it. We already lost a whole day, and I don’t want to lose any more time.”

“Okay…” Aiden mutters.

The roads are dark and empty. The truck’s headlights cut through the shadows and illuminate the road in front of them, but everything else is a mystery. Strange shapes loom out of the darkness, only to turn into trees as the light reaches them. Every once in a while, another car passes, and Aiden can only wonder what they’re doing out here, on a deserted highway in the middle of the night. 

About three hours later, Aiden feels his eyes start to get heavy. He yawns, then shots a glance at Harvard, who seems fixated on the road ahead of them. 

“Do you mind if I try and sleep?” He asks.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Harvard says.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, are you accidentally going to fall asleep at the wheel and drive us into a ditch, because if so than I’d rather stay awake so I can try to save our sorry lives.”

“I’m not going to fall asleep at the wheel. Go ahead and take your nap.” Aiden raises an eyebrow, but he trusts Harvard, so he stretches out in the seat and lets himself fall into unconsciousness. 

When he wakes up, the truck is stopped. Disoriented, he glances at the clock on the dash. 3:26 AM. He sits up and looks out the window. They’re stopped at a gas station and Harvard is refuelling the truck. Rubbing his eyes, Aiden opens up his door and hops out. 

“Oh, hey, you’re up.”

“Yeah, I’m going to go use the bathroom. Do you need to?”

“Just went. While you’re in there, do you think you can grab me a coffee? And maybe some gummy bears or something?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

A bell rings as he pushes open the door. The guy behind the counter looks up from his celebrity gossip magazine and nods his head before going back to reading about so-and-so’s brutal breakup. Aiden finds the bathroom first, then grabs several bags of Haribo gummies and one of those packaged Starbucks drinks that they keep in the fridge. He pays, then heads back outside. Harvard is doing jumping jacks. 

“What are you doing?”

“Trying! To! Wake! Myself! Up!” 

Aiden gets back into the car and says, “Seriously, Harv, do you want me to drive? You haven’t slept in a while.”

“No way. I am not going to risk getting pulled over when you don’t have your license.” Aiden sighs but doesn’t push it. 

They get back on the road, and Aiden hands Harvard the coffee, which Harvard promptly downs. 

“Dude, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” 

Aiden raises his eyebrows. 

“I am fine. Hey, could we listen to the radio?”

“Sure.” Aiden fiddles with the knob, flipping through sounds of static and country music before finally finding something interesting. He doesn’t recognize the song, but the DJ identifies it as Ruler of Everything by Tally Hall. Aiden’s never heard of Tally Hall.

The next few hours pass in the darkness, with only each other and the radio for company. Eventually, the first tendrils of light begin to creep over the horizon, lightening the clouds and marking the beginning of a new day. It also prompts Aiden to check Google Maps to see where they are. Just over the Utah border, it looks like. They’ve driven all the way through Colorado in the dark.

“Are you hungry?” He asks Harvard.

“I don’t know. Are you hungry?”

“How do you not know if you’re hungry?”

“I just don’t. Do you want to stop for food?”

“Let’s just grab something at the next gas stop.”

Their next gas stop ends up being at a 7/11 in Emery County, Utah. Aiden is once again tasked with getting food while Harvard fills up the truck. He enters the store and is surprised to see it crowded with teenagers. They’re all surrounding one boy standing by the Slushie machine. The crowd is chanting, “Chug! Chug! Chug!” Aiden shakes his head and goes to grab croissants, coffee, and sour gummy worms. 

After getting the food (and navigating his way through a throng of sugar-crazed teenagers) he heads back outside. Harvard is already sitting in the truck, ready to go. Aiden climbs in and hands him a croissant and a cup of coffee. Harvard accepts thankfully and tells Aiden to check his text messages. Aiden pulls out his phone warily. 

There’s 43 texts from the King’s Row Fencing group chat, with more pouring in every minute. Aiden scrolls through them, trying to figure out what’s going on. It looks like Tanner’s in the hospital with a broken arm, but Aiden can’t figure out why there’s also a bunch of pictures of stick bugs. 

“What the fuck is going on?” He asks Harvard as they pull onto the freeway. 

“Tanner was climbing a tree, saw a bug, got scared, fell out of the tree, and broke his arm in two places.” Harvard says matter-of-factly. 

“Damn. That’s-- that’s really stupid.”

Harvard laughs. “I’m so glad we’re hundreds of miles away from this nonsense. Could you imagine?”

“Uh, yeah, I can imagine. Do you remember when that one senior fractured his tail bone when we were sophomores? And everyone gave him crap for it until graduation.”

“Oh, yeah. That was pretty funny though.”

They settle into silence for the next few hours. Aiden scrolls mindlessly through his phone, does a sudoku, and counts the number of LDS churches they pass. Harvard hums to himself and fiddles with the radio occasionally, but there’s nothing good on, so he ends up just turning it off. 

Aiden didn’t think Utah would be this pretty. Twisting canyons, ridges, and arches dominate the landscape, glowing gold and orange in the morning sun. Huge, sandy deserts are dotted with cacti and Joshua trees, and the sky is clear and blue. The horizon seems to stretch on and on forever, and it feels like something out of an old western. The lone road, the truck, the wind and the sand. Aiden half expects to see a stagecoach pass by them.

It feels like possibility. 

“Tell me a story.”

Aiden turns to Harvard and laughs. “What?”

“I’m serious. Tell me a story. Something to keep me awake.”

“What sort of a story?”

“Any sort of story. Anything at all. Just talk.”

“Okay, then.” He clears his throat. “Once upon a time,” Aiden begins, “there were two little boys. One of them was loud, and outgoing, and exceptionally handsome, and the other one… was you.”

“I don’t like how this is going.”

“Shut up. You were the one who wanted a story. I’m just telling the best one I know.”

And so Aiden recounts everything. It is the best story he knows, after all, the story of Harvard and Aiden. There’s all sorts of good stuff in there, adventures and fights and drama and first kisses. There’s the time Aiden cut his forehead open after falling off the monkey bars. There’s the time Harvard got dared to eat a whole chocolate cake and then immediately threw up. There’s school carnivals and trips to the beach, fencing and talking and laughing together. 

Aiden gets so caught up in the story, so caught up in all the details and memories, that he almost doesn’t notice when Harvard’s eyes begin to droop somewhere on the outskirts of Las Vegas. It’s almost two in the afternoon, and by this point Harvard hasn’t slept in about thirty hours. 

Aiden stops right in the middle of talking about their seventh grade sex-ed class and says, “Pull over.”

“What?” Harvard is slow to respond.    
  


“I said, pull over. You’re about to fall asleep.”

“Aiden, I’m fine. Anyways, we’re not that far from LA now, right?”

“Wrong on both counts. Harv, if you don’t take a nap right now, you’re going to end up crashing the car. Let’s find a parking lot somewhere and you can sleep for a few hours.”

“But-”

“No buts. I’m not going to mess up my gorgeous appearance by getting in a car crash, okay? You need to sleep, or you need to let me take the wheel.”

“...fine.”

They end up in a Walmart parking lot just off the freeway. Harvard parks the truck and then looks over at Aiden. 

“Where am I going to sleep?”

“Uh, in your seat?”

Harvard frowns and gestures vaguely at the steering wheel and other instruments. Aiden sighs. 

“Fine, we’ll switch.”

They switch seats after a stern reminder from Harvard that Aiden is not allowed to drive. Harvard curls up in the passenger seat and closes his eyes. Aiden pulls out his phone. 

“I’ll set a timer, okay? For four hours. Then we can get back on the road.”

Harvard mumbles something and reaches out to grab Aiden’s hand. Aiden blushes furiously as Harvard’s fingers wrap around his and squeeze. 

Harvard mumbles something again, something that sounds suspiciously like, “Good night, I love you, see you in the morning.”

Aiden squeezes Harvard’s hand back. “I love you too,” he whispers. “Sleep tight.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter left! one more chapter left!
> 
> thanks to everyone reading, i hope you're enjoying this mess


	5. In-N-Out: Where All Your Dreams Come True

Aiden is woken up by the sound of a duck quacking. Groggy and confused, he realizes his head is resting against Harvard’s shoulder, the other boy’s cheek pressed to Aiden’s forehead. He sits up, careful not to disturb Harvard, heat rising to his face. Trying to ignore the fact that he fell asleep using Harvard as a pillow, he pulls out his phone with one hand. A timer is going off. He stops it. The clock says that it’s 6:29 PM. 

He goes to shake Harvard awake, and realizes that they fell asleep still holding hands. Face reddening even more, he extracts himself from Harvard’s grip and then takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down before shaking the other boy awake. 

“Wassup?”

“Naptime is over. Unless you want to go for a full eight hours and become a fully functional human being again?”

“What time is it?” Harvard sits up, rubbing his eyes.

“Six thirty.”

“Shit. We’ve got to get going.”

Aiden sighs, and then he and Harvard trade places. Aiden tries not to think about how warm the seat is now. They pull out of the parking lot, making a couple of wrong turns before they get back on the freeway and almost immediately find themselves in Las Vegas.

There’s a surprising amount of traffic on the freeway for this time, so they have plenty of time to enjoy the bright neon lights and shiny flashing things. Aiden doesn’t even know where to look. There’s just so much here. He can see some sort of ferris wheel contraption in the distance, and several large, ornate fountains and sculptures. He looks over to see Harvard’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. 

“This place is giving me a bit of anxiety.”

Aiden eyes a giant neon sign shaped like a pair of boobs. “Yeah, and it’s making me slightly uncomfortable.”

“Can you put on some music?”

“Sure.”

Aiden plugs in his phone, and Party in the USA begins to play. He grins and then turns to Harvard.

“Holy shit, do you remember when this song came out?” He asks Harvard, who’s begun bopping his head to the music.    
  


“Oh yeah. We were, what? Eight? And Ms. Thornton played it in class all the time and the girls would start singing along, and all the boys would just sit there looking frightened?” He smiles. “Good times.”

They make it out of Las Vegas about forty minutes later, and cross over the California border shortly after that. To mark the crossing, there’s a big blue sign that says Welcome to California in orange cursive, next to a picture of California poppies. Someone stuck a sticker with the hammer and sickle on it over one of the poppies. Aiden takes a picture before he realizes that the photo is too dark to make out. 

California at night is a strange place. It’s dusty and desert-like, full of looming cacti contorted into weird shapes and huge rock formations that look like something out of a science fiction movie. Several times they see coyotes walking along the side of the road, eyes glowing in the darkness. It seems empty and haunted, almost like a ghost town. Aiden half expects to see a UFO descend from the sky and make landing among the shadowy rocks and desert flora.

Eventually they start to drive through more towns, albeit smaller ones. Aiden votes that they stop and find some coffee for Harvard and something to eat. Harvard agrees, and a few minutes later they pull into an In-N-Out parking lot. 

Aiden gets out of the truck and stretches, taking a deep breath of the dry desert air. Harvard joins him, and they stop for a moment to look up at the sky. All those stars. Out here, there’s a lot less light pollution than in Connecticut. 

“It’s so strange to think that these are the same stars we look at when we’re back home, the same stars we saw in Nebraska.” Harvard says. His voice is soft. This isn’t Harvard, the confident fencing capitan. This is Harvard who cried for a solid three hours after watching Finding Nemo. This is the Harvard that Aiden fell in love with. 

“It’s not strange, it’s nice. No matter where you go, it’s always the same sky,” he says. 

“Yeah.” Aiden feels Harvard take his hand and squeeze gently. Aiden smiles and leans into Harvard’s shoulder, enjoying the moment. Trying not to think about how close they are. How his heartbeat is picking up. How he’s hyper aware of every movement that Harvard makes.

But moments like these never last, and eventually they tear their eyes away from the sky and head into the restaurant. Harvard lets go of Aiden’s hand, and Aiden tries not to make a big deal out of it in his mind.

They step inside, the air conditioning hitting them like a brick wall. The restaurant has a cool white-and-red tiled, vintage vibe, with palm tree decals. There’s even some bright yellow fluorescent light signs. The In-N-Out is mostly empty, with an older couple sitting by the window, eating, and two teenagers in line in front of Harvard and Aiden. One of them, a guy with a mohawk and a sweatshirt that says ‘Mustangs Water Polo’, is talking to the cashier. 

“Can I get a four-by-four with animal-style fries and a vanilla milkshake?” He says, and the girl standing next to him shoves her elbow into his side. He turns to her and mutters, “Ow, what was that for?”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Well, we can’t all be skin and bones like you.” He retorts, and then he pays. The pair continues arguing as they go and find a table.

Aiden steps up to the counter and totally blanks. He’s never been here before, what the heck is he supposed to order? The cashier sighs and points to the menu above his head. Aiden looks up. There’s like… three options. 

“Oh, thanks. Can I get a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake?” 

The guy puts his order in and then looks up at Harvard. “What about you?”

“Same thing, coffee instead of a milkshake, though.” The cashier nods, and Harvard pays, despite Aiden’s protests.

They grab the nearest empty table and sit down. Awkward silence fills the space between them. Aiden distracts himself by scrolling through the Instagram of a friend of a friend.

Eventually their order number is called, sparing Aiden from any more weirdness. He goes to grab it and then returns to the table.

The food is pretty good. All a standard above ordinary fast-food burgers. The fries aren’t so great compared to say, Shake Shack, but they’re not bad either. The milkshake gives Aiden a brain freeze. 

“Press your thumb against the top of your mouth,” Harvard advises, smiling at Aiden’s pain. 

Aiden sticks his tongue out at Harvard, but he also follows the advice, and, lo and behold, no more brain freeze. 

“What the fuck?” He whispers, staring at his thumb.

Harvard sighs. “A brain freeze happens when your capillaries in your sinuses cool down, which causes blood vessels to narrow, which is the pain sensation. If you warm the capillaries up, the pain goes away,” he explains.

“I have no idea what the fuck any of that means.”

After that, an awkward silence settles back over the table. Aiden wonders if it’s something he said, because Harvard seems off. He eats slowly, staring down at his fries like they personally wronged him. But even with such a strange expression on his face, when he looks up he still manages to make Aiden’s heart skip a beat. 

It probably isn’t healthy to be in love with your best friend.

They finish their food and head out to the parking lot. Aiden nudges Harvard’s shoulder and asks, “What’s up? You seem quiet.”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Uh huh. And is this the same sort of fine you were yesterday, because that wasn’t really fine at all.” Harvard is silent. “C’mon, man, talk to me. I’m your best friend.” 

“And that’s exactly why I can’t talk to you. Seriously, I’m fine.”

Most people would give up now, and let Harvard keep his secrets. But Aiden knows something is really bothering Harvard, and he  _ is _ Harvard’s best friend. He needs to make sure that he’s okay.

He grabs Harvard’s arm and jerks him around roughly so that they’re standing face to face in the middle of the parking lot. 

“What the fuck is going on?” His voice is low. Mean. He didn’t mean it to come out that way. But he’s had enough of this ‘I’m fine’ bullshit, and he wants answers.

“It’s none of your fucking business.” Harvard’s voice is close to shouting as he tries to pull away. 

“Harvard, tell me what’s going on so I can help. I love you, and I want to help you,” Aiden pleads. 

“I love you too and that’s the problem!” Harvard yells, and then freezes up. 

“Harvard--”

“Shit, shit.” Harvard breaks out of Aiden’s grip to run a hand over his head. “Forget I said anything. Please.”

“Harvard--”

“Aiden, please just forget I said anything, I promise I won’t be weird I just--”

“HARVARD!” Aiden yells, drawing Harvard’s attention back to him. He steps a little bit closer, and rests his forehead against Harvard’s, taking both of Harvard’s hands in his. He can barely think.

“It’s okay,” he says. “It’s okay.” His voice breaks up a little. “I-- I love you too.”

“No you don’t.” Harvard tries to pull away, but Aiden keeps his grip on Harvard’s hands. 

“Yes I do. Do you think I say ‘I love you’ to just anyone? Wake up, Harv. I’ve been in love with you for years.”

There’s a moment of silence. Then: “Holy shit.”

Aiden laughs a little and squeezes Harvard’s hands. “Can I kiss you?” He asks softly. His answer comes when Harvard presses his lips against Aiden’s. God they’re soft. Aiden’s mind goes blank.

Aiden’s heart is pounding out of his chest. He’s kissing Harvard. He’s kissing Harvard, his best friend. He’s kissing Harvard, who likes him back. He’s kissing Harvard, and it feels a thousand times better than kissing anyone else. He’s kissing Harvard, and everything seems to fall into place. 

He wraps his arms around Harvard’s waist and leans in a bit, savoring the moment. He doesn’t want it to end. But eventually Harvard pulls away, turning his head and burying it in the crook of Aiden’s neck. Aiden wants to keep kissing him, but he also doesn’t want to push things. 

Standing there, in an In-N-Out parking lot under the stars, holding his best friend, Aiden falls in love all over again.

\---

Eventually, they get back in the truck and back on the road, because they do actually have to get to LA. There’s a long while of awkward silence in the cab, because Aiden doesn’t know what to say. Harvard’s fingers tap nervously on the wheel. Everything that just happened… it all happened so fast.

“Uh, should we talk about… that?” Harvard asks.

“Probably,” Aiden replies. There’s another stretch of silence before both boys burst out laughing. 

“Holy cow, we’re so useless.” Harvard says. 

“Hey, I’ve never kissed someone I actually cared about before, I don’t know what to do in this sort of situation!” Aiden says, and realizes that it’s true. 

“I’ve never kissed anyone before, I’m even more out of my depth then you are.”

“Wait, what? You’ve never kissed anyone before? I was your first kiss?”

“Spin the bottle and truth or dare don’t count.” Harvard waves his hand. “That was my first real kiss.”

“I--”

“I really like you, Aiden.” Harvard looks over at him and smiles. Aiden blushes fiercely and buries his head in his hands. “You know that, right?”

“Well, now I do.” He raises his head and smiles shyly. Aiden, smiling shyly. God, what Harvard does to him. “And for the record, I really like you too.”

Harvard takes one hand off the steering wheel and reaches over to give Aiden’s hand a squeeze. Aiden’s heart feels like it’s about to burst. Harvard likes him. Harvard kissed him. Harvard  _ likes _ him. 

That’s what Aiden keeps coming back too, as they speed their way towards LA. Harvard likes him. As more than a friend.

\---

Aiden wakes up as the truck starts to slow down. Blinking and rubbing his eyes groggily, he sits up and looks out the window. They’re driving down a residential street in a nice neighborhood. Street lamps glow orange, illuminating medium-sized suburban homes with nice landscaping. Harvard is peering at the street signs. 

“We’re looking for De Nova Street.”

Aiden yawns, and then points as he catches sight of a street sign. “I think it’s that one?”

“Thanks,” Harvard says, turning onto the side street. He pulls into a driveway next to a Kia SUV. The engine turns off, and both boys get out of the car, stretching.

It’s over. They’re here.

Aiden eyes the door. “Should we knock? I don’t want to wake up your uncle.”

“He knows we’re coming,” Harvard says, striding up to the door and pressing the doorbell. Aiden hears a faint ding-dong come from inside the house, then footsteps before the door creaks open. 

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Mr. Lee says. He’s dressed in green pajamas and has a pair of wire-framed reading glasses perched on top of his head. “Come in, come in. We’ll unpack the truck tomorrow. You two need to sleep.”

Aiden and Harvard take off their shoes at the door, then enter the house to find themselves in a large kitchen that merges into a dining room and a living room, all open to each other. To Aiden’s left is an empty room with a few plastic bins in it, and in front of him there’s a hallway and a set of stairs leading down to the basement. Cardboard boxes are lining most of the walls, and there’s minimal furniture. 

“You can put your things wherever,” Mr. Lee says, leading them down the hallway. “As you can see, I haven’t been able to finish unpacking yet. Luckily, I was able to set up the guest bedroom before you got here.” He gestures at the door at the end of the hallway. “I hope you don’t mind sharing?”

Harvard and Aiden exchange a look, and then nod. “Yeah, we’re used to it,” Harvard says. Mr. Lee raises an eyebrow, causing Aiden to blush. But he just shrugs and tells them to settle in and sleep well.

The room is mostly empty, a few more cardboard boxes stacked precariously against one wall. There’s a queen-sized bed in the middle, and a soft carpet on the floor. Aiden sets his backpack down by the door and stretches, his shirt rising up to expose part of his stomach. He sees Harvard quickly look away and he grins, then walks over and flings his arms around Harvard’s neck. Harvard stiffens.

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to be able to do this for?” Aiden whispers into Harvard’s back.

“Is that a rhetorical question or do you actually want me to guess?”

“Shut the fuck up.” 

Harvard twists around so that he’s facing Aiden and wraps his arms around Aiden’s waist. He grins and kisses Aiden’s forehead. “Do you know how late it is?”

Aiden grins ruefully. “If you say we should go to bed I might actually agree with you this time. I think I’m about three hours from when I start hallucinating.”

Harvard laughs and pulls away from Aiden so he can go get his things from his bag. They change and brush their teeth and try to be as quiet as possible so that they don’t disturb Harvard’s uncle. Eventually, they climb into bed.

A long while passes as Aiden stares up at the park ceiling. He can feel Harvard’s warmth beside him, breathing slow and even. Eventually, he can’t stand the quiet anymore. “I can’t sleep.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a you problem,” Harvard replies, turning over on his side. 

“Doesn’t it feel weird to you, though?”

“What feels weird?”

“You. Me. Us. Sleeping next to you.” Aiden sighs. “I was so scared that everything was going to be different. That’s why I never said anything.” It feels weird to finally admit that.

Harvard reaches over and pulls Aiden close to him, running his hands through Aiden’s loose hair. “It doesn’t really feel weird to me. You’re still you, and I’m still me, and we’re still the same. Just… a little bit better.”

“Better?”

“Better,” Harvard reassures him, “So just try and get some sleep, okay?”

“Okay.” Aiden snuggles closer. “Thank you,” He whispers. 

“For what?”

“For being a good person. For liking me back. For putting up with me for all these years.”

Harvard sighs. “I love you, Aiden. I love you as a friend, and I love you like family, and I love you like a boyfriend. That’s why I put up with you.” He flicks Aiden’s ear. 

“I love you too.”

“Okay, now go to sleep.”

\---

The next morning is spent helping Mr. Lee take most of the boxes and furniture inside, and then after lunch Harvard and Aiden are released onto LA.

There’s so much to do that they end up doing nothing at all, just walking through Downtown holding hands. Surrounded by tall buildings and all manner of people, nobody gives them a second glance. It’s a freeing sort of anonymity. They could do anything and it wouldn’t matter, because they’re never going to see any of these people ever again. They can hold hands and walk together and kiss in front of the Angel Wings mural and nobody cares. Aiden feels giddy.

They end up getting ice cream and then taking the bus to Venice Beach. On the bus, Aiden rests his head on Harvard’s shoulder as he looks out the window. The streets are dirty and the air is brown with smog, but it’s LA. Los Angeles. The City of Angels. This is the home of Hollywood, of movies, the place where dreams come true. 

Aiden’s not stupid enough to think the city actually makes dreams come true, but there’s almost something magic about the belief. The legend. It’s a far cry from Connecticut, from New York, even. 

The bus ride takes over an hour, and Aiden dozes off, lulled to sleep by the rhythm of Harvard’s breathing. He wakes up when the bus stops and Harvard shakes his shoulder, saying, “This is us.”

They step off the bus and walk a few blocks to the beach. They’re greeted by sand and palm trees and clear blue water stretching as far as the eye can see. Quintessential California. People walk and jog and skateboard and ride bikes up and down the wide paved path, a myriad of colors and noises. A man plays the guitar, singing in a low, raspy voice. Across the path, people work out, dripping sweat and glowing in the sun. Muscle Beach, Aiden remembers. 

Harvard catches him staring and gives him a flick on the forehead. “No time for oogling.”

“I wasn’t oogling,” Aiden huffs, crossing his arms. He wasn’t. He was just… looking. Right. 

Harvard sighs and gives Aiden another flick before they cross the path and step onto the sand. Aiden pulls off his shoes and socks and digs his toes into the warm sand. Above them, seagulls circle and call out for food. Harvard shades his eyes with one hand as he looks out towards the horizon. 

They walk a little ways down the beach and then sit down in the shade of one of the palm trees. Harvard produces a couple of candy bars from nowhere, and Aiden accepts one gladly. They’re silent for a while, looking out at the water and enjoying the view. 

“We made it,” Harvard says.

“We did.”

“All 2,867 miles.”

“Yeah.”

“A lot happened, didn’t it?”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m really glad we did this.” Harvard wraps an arm around Aiden’s shoulders, pulling him closer. 

“So am I.” Aiden leans into Harvard’s side and rests his head on Harvard’s shoulder. 

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And Aiden can’t help but feel like this is the beginning of the rest of his life.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're reading this, you read through this entire story, and you are now my new favorite person. seriously. i love all of you guys so much. every time someone leaves a comment or kudos it's like instant serotonin. best feeling ever. thank you <3
> 
> also i really love in-n-out. just thought i'd mention it.
> 
> tumblr: @harvard-said-no


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